The 13th Continental Regiment — the Rehoboth Minute Company — was camped at the Dighton Elementary School on Monday.

Throughout the day, students in the third and fourth grade visited six different stations to learn about the American Revolution.

“We’re teaching third and fourth grade classes about life in the 18th Century,” said Captain Al Soucey of the Rehoboth Minute Company. “The guys talk to (the students) about ten minutes each, and then they rotate around until they speak to all of them.”

The re-enactors had stations set up to teach the students about musicians in the Continental Army and militias, doctors, life in camp for common soldiers, life in camp for officers and the armaments that were used in the American Revolution.

“This is a great example for the children to see something more in person, rather than just in text books,” said Tammy Collins, a third grade teacher at Dighton Elementary School. “…It gives them a little more reality to what they’re seeing, where it is so foreign to them nowadays.”

Among many things, students learned that while officers had a furnished tent to themselves with a bed and desk, the common soldier at camp shared a smaller tent with five other soldiers.

A campfire was also lit at one station to demonstrate for the students how Revolutionary soldiers made lead balls for their muskets and rifles and candles out of animal fat.

“This rendered animal fat would stink really, really bad,” Charlie Jette explained to the students as he demonstrated how candles were made. “It was not a fun job, and the kids had to do that.”

The re-enactors also cooked their lunch at the fire.

“One of the men was voted to be the cook, and he would cook for the other five men until they got sick of his cooking,” explained Jim Sinnott, a private at the common soldier’s tent.

At the armaments tent, John Kenney explained the difference between muskets — which were cheap, more common and faster to fire — and rifles — which were grooved to spin the lead ball, making it more accurate. Because muskets were so inaccurate, soldiers would line up and fire a volley at a target in hopes that some of the muskets would hit their mark.

Kenney also explained that bayonets were also attached to muskets and rifles in order for soldiers to drive the enemy off the battlefield. Initially, colonial militias could not stand up to this type of attack by the British.

“If the British came after them in big long lines with bayonets, usually the militia would run. They didn’t know how to repel attacks like that,” Kenney said.

Soucey said he started putting on demonstrations like this at schools years ago after he heard a mother explain to him that her young student didn’t learn about the American Revolution in school, but just what led up to it.

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“I went back to our group and said I was horrified that the teachers in our schools aren’t teaching the kids about the American Revolution, so let’s do it,” Soucey said. “It gives them something they can’t learn in books. They’re going to smell the fire. They’re going to see what we look like… We are trying to educate the people in the truth of the American Revolution.”

At the end of each session, all the re-enactors lined up and demonstrated how the soldiers would fire a volley — using only powder and no lead balls.

“They were cool,” said Mike Agresti, 9, a student in Mrs. Collins third grade class. “They actually shot like guns and stuff.”